Greater Kuala Lumpur, an Attractive Business Hub for Future Growth
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gainst a year that has been challenging, Malaysia continues to display immense resilience and growth. The vaccine rollouts are well underway, trade performance remains steady, and we continue to attract foreign direct investments. With the business landscape shifting the world over, MNCs that have set up their bases in host countries are re-assessing the infrastructure and its relevance to support their growth and expansion strategies, while others are deferring their investment plans to see what the outlook would be like. In the first half of this year, InvestKL secured RM1.92 billion in new investments from seven global multinational companies (MNC), creating 1,207 regional jobs. Despite the challenging economic environment, this achievement reinforces the appeal of Greater Kuala Lumpur (GKL) as a top choice for MNCs and fast-growing companies. At InvestKL, we continuously engage with our MNCs that have set up their operations in GKL to ensure they receive the relevant support as part of our commitment to foster a facilitative business environment. Despite the prolonged pandemic period, it is positive to note that GKL continues to see MNCs carrying on with efforts to grow, expand, and strengthen their businesses, while contributing towards building a vibrant business ecosystem and creating more opportunities for Malaysians. 12
Automate Sept-Nov 2021
Muhammad Azmi Zulkifli, CEO of InvestKL
Building local ecosystems, creating jobs for Malaysians Knowledge transfer is one of the core essentials for Malaysia to move up as a knowledge-based economy and become a developed, high-income country. It is also imperative for Malaysian MNCs to be competitive in the global landscape. International SOS, the world’s largest medical and travel security risk services organization, had its Southeast Asia regional hub located strategically in GKL since 1996. The company opened its new Global Shared Services Centre in 2014, which created 150 new jobs, 95% of them Malaysians.
Another success story, Alcon Global Services (AGS), is an MNC based in Geneva, Switzerland with its regional business services hub for Alcon Laboratories located in GKL, specializes in ophthalmology and producing vision care. This hub concentrates on providing business support across various functions that span finance, human resources, procurement, supply chain, enterprise resource-planning, IT, and quality assurance. Companies like International SOS and AGS are just a couple of the many hundreds of MNCs that don’t just create jobs for Malaysians but also build local
